Technology Fee Funded Projects

Student Access to Project Resources

These collections will be of great benefit to students and faculty in disciplines such as Africana Studies, Anthropology, Education, English, History, Legal Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Women’s Studies, and others. The databases will be available to an unlimited number of users, making the content easily accessible throughout the UCF community. We will integrate these resources into the history curriculum and make them available on the Libraries’ main database page as well as relevant research guides. We will also present these collections at departmental meetings and provide workshops for students.

Benefit to Student Learning

Both Archives of Sexuality and Gender, Parts 1-3, and Women’s Issues and Identities bring together innovative scholarship, primary documents, books, images, essays, teaching tools and more. The content leads users step by step from discovery to contextual understanding, and therefore directly supports student learning by providing content for course papers, projects, and study. Both databases will greatly benefit UCF students and is designed to support teaching and research. Dr. M.C. Santana, the Director of Women’s Gender Studies, strongly supports the purchase of these resources.

The following courses are directly linked in content to both archives. For example WST 3603: Introduction to Gender Studies allows students to understand the complex discussion on gender through a feminist lens as well as an interdisciplinary approach to learning. Sexuality and LGBTQ+ issues are at the core of the foundation of this course, thus allowing students to further their studies for papers and class presentations based on the Archives of Sexuality and Gender, Parts 1-3. History is at a high level of importance to us, thus the course description is as follows:

“Historical and cultural foundations of gender, sexuality, and intersectional theories with attention to fluidity of identities and diversity of experiences”.

WST 3603 Introduction to Gender Studies is both a core course for minors in Women’s and Gender Studies as well as for certificates in Gender Studies at the undergraduate level. At the graduate level our students in Women’s and Gender Studies complete a certificate on Gender. The graduate Gender certificate also includes the core class WST 5347 Research on Women and Gender that requires students to complete research papers based on segments from their own masters or Ph. D. thesis, thus giving them a chance to work on their individual majors as they learn about Gender. The students in this class are encouraged to enter their research to the Graduate Showcase of Research at UCF every spring term. The Archives of Sexuality and Gender, Parts 1-3 will complement the student’s access to invaluable information on Gender and Sexuality and I think it will foster a greater research commitment to studying Gender.

Direct Impact on Community Outreach and Service Learning

The Women’s and Gender Studies program is one of the top three fields at UCF using Experiential Learning as a measurement of direct impact among students in a class. Our SL serving courses use an average of 30-40 % of grade to the Service Learning project. Students collaborate with local and national organizations through individual/group projects helping to bridge the understanding of theory and practice while allowing students to get real-life work experiences. The following courses are SL designees in our program:

• WST3015: Introduction to Women’s Studies
• WST3500: Gender Issues in Community Activism
• WST3561: Third Wave Feminism
• WST3371: Women and Leadership
• WST3522: First and Second Wave Feminism
• WST3621: Theories of Masculinity
• WST4349: Ecofeminism
• WST4415: Global and Transnational Feminism
• WST3020: Girls Studies
• WST3640: Women, Race and Struggle
• WST4002: Research in Women and Gender

The SL project includes a large part of original research on the importance, background and significance of the community partner. It is my hope that such archives will also bring access to students learning the complexities of Gender and Sexuality. Although Service Learning brings particular learning outcomes by the nature of working in professional settings, it is without doubt a way of collecting and processing information through the study of theory and practice.

Benefits of Service Learning to Women’s Studies students

• Students apply their classroom knowledge in non-academic situations.
• Students interact with real-world audiences, and agency liaisons and community members provide feedback on their work.
• Students gain experience outside of the classroom and learn valuable time- and resource- management skills.
• Students face live dilemmas, both ethical and everyday, and similar to those they would confront in their chosen careers.
• Students make valuable connections with community leaders and community organizations.

Furthermore, the courses WST 3500 Gender and Community Activism and WST 3621 Theories of Masculinities discuss at length the history of the LGBTQ movement in this country while addressing policy and societal changes in the 20^th and 21^st century. Both classes are another perfect example of how the Archives would compliment student’s access to the most relevant information for class presentations and papers.

Here are examples of how these resources would be used:

WST 3015 Introduction to Women’s Studies

WST 3522: First and Second Wave Feminisms

Offering coverage of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Women’s Issues and Identities provides insights into writings of first wave feminists have impacted women’s lives, contributions and political landscape. Reflections and writings of first wave feminists such as Sojourner Truth and Jane Addams are present throughout the collection. 

Four specific collections included in the Women’s Issues and Identities archive will foster understanding of western feminist thought from the late 18th Century to the 1980’s. They are:

Malthusian, 1879-1921 (formerly Women and the Social Control of Their Bodies)Founded in 1877, the Malthusian League was one of the first organizations in the world to advocate voluntary family limitation as the solution to the problems of overpopulation and poverty. The activities of the league are documented in their journal The Malthusian, which includes a wealth of letters and articles on poverty, over-population, demographic principles, legislation, race, family size, birth control, and statistical comparisons with other European nations and major powers. Also included is The Eugenics Review, featuring articles, discussion, and reviews on a wide range of topics such as abortion, alcoholism, birth control, child welfare, crime, divorce, ethics, religion, legislative processes, fertility, maternity, poverty, peace and war.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America Records, 1918-1974

The records of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America document its struggles to provide services including birth control, men’s sexual health, relationship counseling, sex education, treatment for sexually transmitted disease and international family planning. The collection is exceptionally strong in its coverage of the legal challenges supported by PPFA and its predecessor organizations, as well as in documenting the relations between PPFA and major stake-holding groups like physicians, social workers, nurses and public health staff. The relationship between local affiliates and the national organization is illuminated both in the collection’s coverage of annual meetings and its affiliate files.

Grassroots Feminist Organizations, 1972-1998

The Grassroots Feminist Organizations collection consists of files from feminist organizations and women’s centers in Boston and San Francisco, both hubs of the second-wave feminist (women’s liberation) movement.

The archives of eight Boston-area second-wave organizations are represented here, with materials spanning a period from 1968 to 1998. Figuring prominently are the documents from the Women’s Educational Center; the Women’s School; the Abortion Action Coalition; and the Boston chapter of Women Against Violence Against Women, which combated offensive representations of women in media. Materials include meeting minutes; records of personnel and finances; correspondence; newsletters; files regarding affiliated organizations and opposition groups; and course descriptions. The collection demonstrates the wide range of issues Boston feminists tackled, such as domestic violence, racism, pornography, rape, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ rights. The Female Liberation, Boston Women’s Union, and Boston Area Feminist Coalition records highlight theoretical underpinnings of the feminist movement, especially socialist feminism.

The materials from San Francisco detail the work of the first woman-owned-and-run women’s center in the U.S. from 1972 to 1998. Many of the files document the founding, planning, and daily administration of the center, including the building itself and its place in the surrounding community. The Women’s Building/Women’s Center housed or sponsored more than one hundred projects and women’s groups. Documents highlight its extensive involvement with organizations that supported women from different countries, cultures, religions, races, and life circumstances. Other projects involved gay and lesbian rights; health care; legislation; reproductive rights; and even issues not explicitly connected with women’s rights, such as Central American intervention, AIDS, and affirmative action. The collection also details the many film, theater, poetry, music, and visual-arts events hosted and sponsored by the organization. Materials include meeting minutes; financial records; correspondence; newsletters; records of center-related groups; and flyers about events and projects.

WST 3460: Women, Race and Struggle

Sourced from the Herstory collection, several publications included in Women’s Issues and Identities will help to shed light on the perspectives, issues and scholarship about women of color.  Sample titles from the collection include:

• Ain’t I A Woman?
• The American Negro Woman
• American Society for Public Administration Task Force on the Status of Women and Minorities, Bay Area
• And Ain’t I A Woman?
• Asian Women
• Asian Women’s Center Newsletter
• Best Friends
• California Personnel and Guidance Association Women’s Caucus Newsletter
• Chicana Service Action Center News
• The Circle: A Lesbian Feminist Publication
• Clearinghouse for Feminist Media
• Et Ta Soeur
• Famila
• The Family in Historical Perspective
• The Gay Blade
• Gay People and Mental Health: A Monthly Bulletin
• Gay Women’s Newsletter
• Gayly Forward
• The Killer Dyke
• La Abogada Internacional
• La Abogada Newsletter
• La Razon Mestiza
• The Ladder
• Lavender Woman: A Lesbian Newspaper
• Le Torchon Brule
• The Lesbian Feminist
• Lesbians Fight Back
• Libera
• National Lesbian Information Service
• One to One: A Lesbian Feminist Journal of Communication
• Purple Star: Journal of Radicalesbians
• Quaderni di Lotta Femminista
• The Second Wave: A Magazine of the New Feminism
• Sheryn’s Nifty Newsletter
• Sisters Unite
• Trans Sister
• Twin Cities Women’s Union
• Union Wage
• United Auto Workers Women’s Department Special Bulletin
• United Women’s Contingent Newsletter
• WICCE A Lesbian, Feminist Newspaper
•  

WST 3561: Third Wave Feminisms

Women’s Issues and Identities is far beyond a suffrage collection; it runs up into the 21^st century and helps to uncover the “layers of oppression” caused, for example, by gender, race, and class known to be the charge of third wave feminists.  The Grassroots Feminist Organizations documents offer coverage for this wave of feminism while other collections like the Herstory collection highlight the intersectional approach of this wave. 

The Herstory documents offer full texts of journals, newspapers, and newsletters tracing the evolution of women’s rights movements in the United States and abroad from 1956 to 1974. Compiled by the Women’s History Library from materials donated by the organizations that published them, the collection includes documents from the National Organization of Women (NOW), Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), Women Strike for Peace (WSP), and many other groups.

Among the longest-running periodicals in the collection is The Ladder, the journal of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first organization in the United States specifically dedicated to lesbian civil and political rights. Issues include those from October 1956 to August 1971—nearly a complete run.

Project Success Metrics and Assessment Plan

The Libraries will measure the impact of these databases through usage reports that track the number of individual hits and downloads. The Libraries will measure the success of these collections through COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources) usage data provided by the vendors. These usage reports will be included in the Libraries’ Annual Report and will serve an important benchmark. To achieve meaningful quantitative assessment, a 3-year time series comparison will be conducted three years after the full implementation of these resources. Once these collections have been integrated into classes and promoted through a variety of outreach efforts, we would expect usage to increase an average of 10% per year for the first three years.

Assessment Plan

In addition to the aforementioned metrics, we will also assess this project by consulting with selected faculty to review the collections and provide feedback on how they are being used in classes as well as the impact on student learning. We will work with teaching faculty and subject librarians to identify courses and programs that may benefit from these resources. This will be done, in part, through various outreach efforts including bibliographic instruction sessions, research consultations, the creation of a research guide, and articles in faculty newsletters designed to promote awareness and encourage the use of these resources.

Project Sustainability

The requested funds will cover the one-time purchase of the entire collection, which will provide perpetual access to the databases included in this package. The Libraries will catalog the content and support access. Each database has a small annual maintenance fee that will be paid for out of the Libraries’ materials budget.

Technology Fee Proposal Budget Narrative

The requested $90,562.00 will cover the purchase of four primary source collections from Gale. The price breakdown described above reflects a one-time purchase for perpetual access to all the collections with no immediate additional costs. Annual access fees will be negotiated by the Libraries and will be paid for out of their annual materials budget. All content and functionality associated will be hosted by the vendors, so there will be no new demands on UCF staff or infrastructure.

Based on the most recent statistics of 68,500 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled as of the fall semester 2019, the cost of these collections averages to a mere ­­$1.75 per student. However, with unlimited access and perpetual rights, this number will be even lower as usage increases.

Space Administration

No space is needed for the project.